| It’s often hard for me to recognize actors I’ve never seen outside the theatre, but stepping into a coffee shop for an interview appointment, I immediately zero in on Joel Smith. As we wait for his fellow actor Jarvis Hall to arrive, it strikes me how the exuberance of youth can make the greatest cynic crack a smile. Smith is all excited about this year’s Betty Mitchell Awards, even though he’s never attended the ceremony before.
Smith and Hall co-starred in last year’s Alberta Theatre Projects production of Who Has Seen the Wind? and both have received their first Betty nominations in the outstanding supporting actor category. In fact, the Bettys committee took the unusual step of increasing the number of nominees in the category to six from five to include both actors.
Although he’s been performing ever since graduating from the University of Calgary over 10 years ago, Hall has never really thought of himself as strictly an actor. He holds down another job as a framer at a local gallery and is completely content doing one or two shows a year. The Betty nod, after so many years in the theatre scene, came as a surprise – he didn’t even know he was nominated until his mother-in-law phoned to congratulate him. Hall doesn’t place much stock in the nomination, although he seems pleased about it.
"It seems to be some sort of a (yardstick) that the theatre community has adopted – who has one, who doesn’t, who’s been nominated, who hasn’t," says Hall. "Is it important? I don’t think so. Most of the people I work with haven’t been nominated, don’t have a statue on their mantel, and they’re fine actors. I don’t think it makes a difference."
The younger Smith looks slightly stunned at Hall’s remark.
"It means a little bit to me," he says with a laugh. "I’m treating it as an honour, like I’ve already won something – I guess because I wasn’t anticipating being nominated for any kind of award. I didn’t think I had been around long enough or necessarily paid my dues to have my work recognized right out of college like that. It’ll probably do some really nice things for me in my career, at least in the short term."
In Who Has Seen the Wind? Smith played the role of Brian, a young boy growing up in rural Saskatchewan. It was his first professional theatre gig – apart from the semi-pro Shakespeare in the Park – since graduating from Mount Royal College’s Theatre Arts program last year. During his time at MRC, he helped form THEATREboom, an experimental theatre company. While he’s made an impressive start, he admits that, in high school, he barely passed Drama 30.
After leaving high school, however, Smith grew up quickly – thanks, in part, to a motorcycle accident.
"I sort of had my head snapped and twisted back on right for me," he says. "Then I went out and decided I was going to be a businessman. This was Calgary, for God’s sake. I was 18, I should be rich."
After touring North America selling ads for the Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology for two-and-a-half years, Smith had a life-changing experience during a trip to Mexico.
"One day, halfway through the trip, we were drinking heavily and (my friend) hung me off the edge of the patio. I’d known this guy since Grade 4 and he told me if I didn’t apply to be in the (MRC) theatre school this year, he’d throw me off the balcony the next time we went on a vacation."
Smith took the threat seriously. "I went and auditioned and managed to get in. I quit my job and went to theatre school."
Smith’s nomination would suggest that his decision was the right one.
Hall, meanwhile, is simply amused that he’s finally received a nomination in a show that’s atypical of most of his work. Over the years he’s tended to do darker, more offbeat plays, such as the gay prison drama Lilies and the sexually charged Closer. Who Has Seen the Wind?, a family show based on W.O. Mitchell’s beloved coming-of-age novel, found him playing a host of colourful small-town characters.
"I received many congratulatory phone calls from people around, knowing that it’s kind of funny that I’d be nominated for this show," he says. "For me, it’s always been interesting to be a storyteller and the stories I like to tell are the ones a little less coherent or mainstream."
Whatever happens the night of the Bettys, Hall vows to be drinking in the bar. Then he mentions the Betty curse.
"If you win the Betty, you don’t get hired for a year," he says.
"There’s a Betty curse?" asks Smith, looking concerned.
"Not a nosedive, per se," Hall clarifies. "You’re sort of a hot potato, but nobody phones you."
He cracks a wide smile as Smith shifts a bit uncomfortably. Will either of them be cursed after this year’s Bettys? Only time will tell.
The 2003 Betty Mitchell Awards take place August 25 at Stage West. Call 243-6642 for tickets and information. |
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